My ambition is to be a translator for Japanese. The college I am planning to go to has an oversea study program to Japan. You go for the whole school year & stay with a family & attend a college in Hirakata (classes are in English for the most part.) There is also an option to do an internship while you are there.

I'm wondering what to expect for this. What will it be like living with a Japanese family. How welcoming will they be? What size will the home likely be? What is family life like in Japan etc. Will they likely have a shower in the house? Just in general what to expect.

Thanks for any replies

(I'm American btw)

Last edited by hikari_01 on Wed 10.04.2006 11:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

hikari_01 wrote:I'm wondering what to expect for this. What will it be like living with a Japanese family.

Horrible.

How welcoming will they be?

Not very.

What size will the home likely be?

One-room, about 10 feet squared. You have to share it with 5 other people, so learn to play nice.

What is family life like in Japan etc. Will they likely have a shower in the house?

Of course not, just a bucket of cold water that you have to bring in every day from the well.

JUST KIDDING!

There's no way for us to tell you how your host family will act or what their house will be like. There are millions of resources on what modern Japan is like in general, just look around. It's a modern country: people have large houses, indoor plumbing (showers AND baths!) and are generally very nice. The ones that volunteer to take you in are obviously interested in hosting a foreign student so of course they will welcome you.

I think you should talk to the coordinator for the program at your college. They could give you a lot more specific information about the program and probably introduce you to someone who's already gone.

Last edited by keatonatron on Wed 10.04.2006 11:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

My ambition is to be a translator for Japanese. The college I am planning to go to has an oversea study program to Japan. You go for the whole school year & stay with a family & attend a college in Hirakata (classes are in English for the most part.) There is also an option to do an internship while you are there.

I'm wondering what to expect for this. What will it be like living with a Japanese family. How welcoming will they be? What size will the home likely be? What is family life like in Japan etc. Will they likely have a shower in the house? Just in general what to expect.

Thanks for any replies

(I'm American btw)

Like Keat said, there's no way to tell you exactly what your host family will be like. I live with a wealthy family yet I'm in a tiny apartment, but my friend lives with a family who is not as well off and lives in a giant house. Family life is different from family to family, but like Keat said, if they're willing to accept you they'll probably be as accomodating as possible. If you're a college student you will most likely be free to do as you please (most of the 留学生 don't have a curfew), but still be expected to call when you're returning late, etc. etc. You're a foreigner but you will most likely be expected to be considerate to your family, like any Japanese person is. Some families will do your laundry, clean your room and others won't, it's hard to predict.

As for the shower, it depends on the house, I'd say that most houses nowadays do have showers (I was worried about the exact same thing before ).

You should try and hook up with someone who has done it before with your schools program and see what their experiences are, it'll really be helpful when preparing for your trip. Or if you have any particular homestay questions I'd be happy to answer them for you!

Sorry if this came out sounding weird, my english seems to deteriorate more and more each day.

Last edited by Ashurii on Thu 10.05.2006 5:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

I'm curious how the OP arrived at the decision to become a Japanese translator while, apparently, being totally oblivious of Japanese life. I would expect a familiarity with Japan to give rise to the desire to do work intimately tied with the country.

paul_b wrote:There's a "Delete this post" checkbox after you hit the Edit button.

Eep, sorry, thanks for the info.

As for why the person would have an interest without knowing much about Japanese life, I studied Japanese and Japanese culture for years and I still had all sorts of questions about Japanese life and even questioned validity of things I learned in school. It's one thing to read it in a book, but completely another to find out firsthand! But then again I was paranoid. :p

Mike Cash wrote:I'm curious how the OP arrived at the decision to become a Japanese translator while, apparently, being totally oblivious of Japanese life. I would expect a familiarity with Japan to give rise to the desire to do work intimately tied with the country.

I actually do know quite a bit about Japanese culture. However I still do have questions. Like 'Ashurii' said, it's one thing to study it & a completely different thing to live it. Seeing as I have not yet lived it I was curious as to what that would be like.

Also, thank you to everyone for your posts.

Last edited by hikari_01 on Thu 10.05.2006 12:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

First, let me say that I went to Kansai Gaidai back in '97-'98, and I had a great time. Like everyone else said, there's no way we can tell what your host family will be like, but they will more than likely be friendly and helpful. Just try to remember that this is a different country, and if they ask you to do somethings differently (even if it seems odd or illogical), try to respect their wishes. If you do, I think you will be just fine.

Kansai Gaidai recently built a new campus, and although I've never been there, I've heard that it's really nice. My one piece of advice to you would be to avoid hanging out with other foreigners. It's difficult to do when you have no other friends and you are struggling to communicate in Japanese, but if you truly want to become a translator, you need to get good, fast - and you won't do that speaking English with the other foreign students every day.

There are several clubs at Kansai Gaidai, and the members are always very willing to welcome you in. Participate in something that interests you, and you will quickly build a group of Japanese friends that you can rely on for support and language practice/help.

As for translation - this is something I've been doing lately myself. In my opinion, it's much better than teaching English (in terms of enjoyment and job satisfaction, but then everyone's different). One STRONG piece of advice that I've mentioned before (but it bears repeating) is that translation companies/clients don't care if you have a degree in Japanese. They won't give you a job because you know how to speak/read/write Japanese and English. They will give you a job because you can speak/read/write Japanese and English AND because you have a strong grasp, in both languages, of the terminology in the field you are translating in.

In other words, you have to know your stuff when it comes to Marketing or Medicine or Computing, because the paying jobs in translation aren't going to be simple documents using everyday language. They are going to be highly technical documents using terminology like "crystal nucleating agent" or "present objective evidence of unobviousness" or "valence band."

Pick up solid knowledge in a field that has high demand in the J-E translation industry, pick up the Japanese language while you're doing it, and you'll be set up. Right now, the areas with the highest demand for J-E translation would be Marketing, Finance, Mechanical Engineering, Medicine, Chemical Engineering and Computers (both hardware and software).

I only say this because I learned this the hard way - and I would love to help others avoid the same. Take advantage of the fact that you are about to start your education and plan accordingly, because picking up the knowledge needed to compete in translation on your own time, and via self-study, is very demanding and difficult, to say the least.

Last edited by Mukade on Fri 10.06.2006 8:51 am, edited 1 time in total.